Jewish identities are becoming increasingly pluralised due to internal dynamics within Judaism and wider social processes such as secularisation, globalisation and individualisation. However, empirical research on contemporary Jewish identities often continues to adopt restrictive methodological and conceptual approaches that reify Jewish identity and portray it as a ‘product’ for educational providers and others to pass to younger generations. Moreover, these approaches typically impose identities upon individuals, often as a form of collective affiliation, without addressing their personal significance. In response, this article argues for increased recognition of the multiple and fluid nature of personal identities in order to investigate the diverse ways in which Jews live and perform their Jewishness. Paying greater attention to personal identities facilitates recognition of the intersections between different forms of identity, enabling more complex understandings of the ways in which individuals both define their own identities and contribute to redefining the boundaries of Jewishness.

Diasporic synagogues have historically provided a number of educational and social functions. However, the growing popularity of state-funded Jewish schools in England necessitates analysis of these institutions’ changing roles and their implications for performances of Jewishness. Drawing upon interviews with rabbis, and interviews and focus groups with parents and students at a Jewish school, this article demonstrates three challenges for synagogues associated with the recent growth in Jewish day schooling: the instigation of instrumental attendance at services in order to secure a school place; and the co-option of synagogues’ traditional functions as both education and social centres. In the process, it illustrates how conceptualisations of Jewish identity are contested, resulting in discrepant attitudes towards Jewish education. Consequently, the article contributes to understandings of the spaces in which young people practise their Jewishness, and highlights the challenges for community leaders in ensuring that Jewish schools and synagogues cooperate rather than compete.

The expansion of faith schooling in countries such as England raises important questions about their appeal in multicultural societies. Through a case study approach, this article aims to understand the influences behind parents’ decisions to send their children to Jewish schools. It illustrates a tension experienced by Jewish parents between a desire for their children to be educated as a community of ‘similar’ peers, and the segregation that might result as a consequence. In order to ‘justify’ their choice of separate schooling, parents constructed a desirable, essentialized notion of Jewishness that coalesced their two main selection criteria, academic standards and the presence of other Jewish students. By operationalizing their Jewishness for ‘secular’ purposes in such a way, they were able to secure a perceived superior academic education whilst avoiding disfavoured ‘others’ in multicultural comprehensive schools, and in the process defined multiculturalism on their own terms. Consequently, the article foregrounds the broader dynamics of multiculturalism and community that are implicated in questions of (faith) school choice, and the complex intertwinement of parents’ school selection criteria.

In spite of growing attention among geographers to the diversity of religious spaces, young adults’ perceptions of such sites and their relevance in contemporary society remain relatively under-researched. In response, this article focuses on Generation Z undergraduates’ conceptualizations of religious space and engagement with broader questions pertaining to the sacralization of urban sites. The students identified a wide range of urban sites beyond places of worship as religious—including murals, storefronts, sidewalk decorations and tattoos – and in the process revealed the pervasiveness of religion and religious spaces, thereby uncovering some new possible directions for geographical inquiry. Moreover, they shared their attitudes regarding contested issues like gentrification and the commodification of religious symbols, and in relation the place of religion in contemporary society. By gaining such a glimpse into the worldviews of Generation Z, we may develop a better understanding of the ways that they perceive religious space and its relevance to urban life.

Lampung, located in the southern part of Sumatra, is an example of a disaster-prone province in Indonesia. South Lampung regency in particular is at potential risk of three natural disasters: tsunamis, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Through drawing upon interviews with authority figures from two districts of the regency (Kalianda and Rajabasa) and applying the collaborative governance theory of Ansell and Gash, this article contributes in two important ways to the literature on post-tsunami response. First, we identify the role played by three groups – local government, adat and religious institutions – in negotiating the post-tsunami response process, alongside the socio-technical issues encountered. Second, through applying and refining the ideas of Ansell and Gash, we create a model that may be used to stimulate collaboration between the three groups to better deal with tsunami events. It is evident that when local government lacks the capability to coordinate post-tsunami response, disaster management may easily descend into chaos. By identifying the resources each group brings to the table, we believe that our model can help encourage different actors to collaborate when responding to such disasters.

Faith schools may play an important role in reproducing ethnoreligious identities, yet research into Jewish schools has tended to overlook students’ personalised conceptualisations of faith. Instead, it has regularly utilised restrictive ‘indicators’ of ethnoreligious practice in order to gauge these institutions’ effectiveness in ‘strengthening’ Jewish identity and thus mitigating assimilation. In response, this article explores the ways in which students at a pluralist Jewish school negotiated and (re)shaped their Jewishness, and thus lived their identities in personally meaningful ways. Students articulated ‘symbolic’ forms of Jewishness, rooted in inclusive and often stereotypical cultural symbols rather than regular religious practice, and personalised their identities through the school’s amenability to diverse manifestations of faith. Consequently, the research illustrates the value of including young people’s perspectives of faith and faith schooling, with implications for understandings of ethnoreligious identity and practice in spaces beyond traditional religious sites such as places of worship.